


In Which: Beth should stop throwing Melissa's words back in her face

by dancing_apples



Category: The Martian (2015)
Genre: F/M, Melissa is dealing with a lot of shit, Melissa just likes to punch out her feelings, beth is honestly the little sister melissa never wanted, most of that being guilt, she feels guilty about everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 14:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10878696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancing_apples/pseuds/dancing_apples
Summary: Melissa is playing dumb and Beth has had enough.





	In Which: Beth should stop throwing Melissa's words back in her face

It’s not the first time she’s hidden out in the gym, trying to work out her feeling on a punching bag, and it certainly won’t be the last. At least when she’s trying to work out this particular problem. Though it might be getting to the point where she needs to find a new spot to hide. After all, Beth seems to be able to find her easily.

The door slides open to reveal Beth, and Melissa suppresses a groan. The crew has been trying to regulate her use of the exercise equipment, much to Melissa’s annoyance, and after a particularly nasty telling off she’d given Beck, they had started sending Beth. Who is infinitely harder to yell at.

“I just started,” Melissa says between hits, keeping her eyes focused the bag. “And you know that we need to keep up our physical fitness to avoid muscle atrophy.”

“It’s been a half hour, Mel,” Beth snorts, raising an eyebrow at her, and Melissa curses internally. She moves to hold the bag for Melissa, staring at her pointedly as she continues. “But I’m not here to talk about your excessive workout regime.”

“Oh?” She jabs the bag, grateful for the resistance Beth provides. That, and the fact that she’s not lecturing her again. “Then what are you here to talk about?”

“Beck,” she states bluntly, and Melissa drops her arms to her side, eyeing Beth curiously.

“What about Beck? Does it have anything to do with what we talked about during our first trip here?” Melissa cocks an eyebrow, tilting her head slightly as she watches a blush colour the younger woman’s cheeks.

“Yeah, kinda. I mean, it’s just that things are kind of difficult.” Beth looks down at the floor, scuffing her sneaker as she composes her thoughts. “I know how I feel about him, and I’m pretty sure I know how he feels.” She peeks up at Melissa, watching her carefully through her eyelashes. “But I don’t know how to make the transition from friends to… well, more than a friend. We’ve been through a lot together. What if I’m misreading things? I’m scared, Mel.”

“Oh, Beth. It’s alright to be scared, as long as you don’t let it stop you from doing something that will make you happy.” Melissa pauses, letting that sink in. “And if things are complicated, make them less complicated. Talk to him, tell him how you feel, and go from there. If you love him, you shouldn’t let your fear stop you.”

“Exactly!” Beth is grinning now, and that catches Melissa off guard, shocking and confusing her. 

“What?” She didn’t understand why Johannsen was looking so triumphant, unless her little pep talk had really worked. Which wasn’t seeming likely.

“‘If you love him, you shouldn’t let your fear stop you,’” Beth quotes, looking smug and waggling her eyebrows at a startled Melissa. 

“I’m sorry, am I missing something?” Melissa’s brow furrows, becoming slightly concerned for her crew

“God, Lewis. Are you really that dense?” She asks, her attitude bordering on insubordinate. 

“Beth…” There’s a warning in her tone. They may be friends, but Melissa is still mission commander. Of course, Beth completely ignores that when they are alone. 

“Mark,” Johannsen says like whatever she’s talking about is obvious, but it’s not to Melissa. At her blank look Beth groans, rolling her eyes at her commander. Muttering under her breath, she crosses her arms across her chest. “For someone so smart, you can be such an idiot sometimes.”

Melissa turns her back on Beth and begins unwrapping her hands, focusing on her task instead of the fact that Johannsen had lost her mind.

“Oh, fuck subtlety. You love Mark,” she states, and Melissa whirls around. Eyes wide, she faces Beth as the younger woman continues a little less sure of herself. “You do, don’t you?”

Melissa blushes what she knows to be a comical shade of red. She can feel it heating her cheeks as it spreads through them, revealing more than she wished. Damn her fair complexion. 

She doesn’t love Mark. She can’t. She has a husband at home, a lovely man who has put up with her love of the stars being great than her desire to stay on Earth with him. A good man who loves her. A man who tries to understand her, despite the fact that he never will. A man who isn’t Mark Watney, who never will be. So she doesn’t love Mark.

Except that she does. And it hurts, more than she would care for it to. It compromises her in ways that she wishes it wouldn’t. Loving Mark is more trouble than it’s worth, but she does anyway.

“It’s not that simple, Beth.” She doesn’t deny it, even though she probably should. There’s no point, not when it’s so obviously written across her face and in her every action. “Things are complicated.”

“‘If things are complicated, make them less complicated,’” Beth quotes again, patting Melissa’s shoulder comfortingly before leaving the gym, leaving the commander with her thoughts, trying to sort out what to do.


End file.
